1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a plasma generation electrode module using a flexible electrode, a plasma generation electrode assembly, and an apparatus for generating plasma (or a plasma generating apparatus) using the same, and particularly, to a technique of generating plasma in the atmosphere without supplying an external gas.
2. Background of the Invention
Unlike vacuum plasma used in a semiconductor process, or the like, atmospheric pressure plasma discharged in an open space (1 atm) has been actively researched since 1990s. Atmospheric pressure plasma are variously classified into dielectric barrier discharge (DBD), corona jet, glow discharge, arc torch, micro-hollow cathode discharge (MHCD), inductively coupled plasma (ICP), and the like, according to discharge structures and discharge modes. Here, plasma having physical/chemical characteristics may be generated by adjusting an input frequency, an input voltage/current, an input waveform, a supply gas, and the like. Due to various characteristics, research into applications of atmospheric pressure plasma to various fields such as bio/medical industry, material industry, energy/environment industry, as well as basic research of atmospheric pressure plasma, have been actively conducted worldwide.
When a high voltage is applied between two electrodes disposed to be spaced apart from one another, discharge is made in the space between the two electrodes, ionizing a reactive gas to form plasma. The plasma formed thusly includes numerous functional ions capable of modifying a surface of a material by removing fine foreign objects, changing surface roughness, and forming a polar functional group, as well as cleaning the surface of the material, to enhance adhesion in the event of printing, coating, and bonding.
However, research into small DBD or corona jet type plasma using a helium or argon gas having a relatively low discharge voltage, among the atmospheric pressure plasma, accounts for 90% or greater, and in this case, since a large amount of gas such as helium or argon supplied for discharge is consumed, supply gas facilities are additionally required, resulting in the necessary to simplify a system. In atmospheric pressure plasma using air, instead of discharge gas, DBD-type or torch-type electrode structures have been mostly studied, but since a space between electrodes is small or a plasma treatment sectional area is small, a new electrode performing large area discharge, while increasing power efficiency, is required.
Recently, in order to overcome the limitation in the treatment area, research into treatment of a surface of a flat large area by combining a plasma torch array and a roll-to-roll process has been conducted. However, in many cases, an overall plasma system is designed by using electrodes in a non-flexible electrode form to generate the aforementioned plasma. Thus, there is a limitation in the volume and design of the overall system due to the non-flexible electrodes in designing electrodes for various applications.